


It's Cold

by Keith_my_emo_boi



Series: Keith hurt/comfort [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drowning, Fever Dreams, How Do I Tag, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, Ice Planet, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) Friendship, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) Has Abandonment Issues, Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, Keith/Shiro (Voltron) Fluff, M/M, Protective Lance (Voltron), Protective Shiro (Voltron), Sick Keith (Voltron), Stranded, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-21 04:03:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16569269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keith_my_emo_boi/pseuds/Keith_my_emo_boi
Summary: Keith's never really been a fan of the cold, not a fan of an ice planet then either huh... have fun Keith.





	It's Cold

"Well, that was lucky." Pidge was the first to speak after they'd all completed the mission.

Voltron had recieved a distress call from the Arusians roughly 3 Vargas prior, saying they were needed to destroy an unknown structure on a potential allied planet that had been taken over by the Galra. 

Voltron had pretty much flown in blind, leading to each paladin being hit several times by the galran fleets, however all the lions had been functional enough to deliver a killing blow to the main ship and successfully finish the mission in the end. 

Before they'd won, a stray Druid ship had targeted them all with an apparently very quintessence draining blast, leaving the lions barely able and each paladin in need of a well deserved break.

Lance's voice crackled in over the comms, "you can say that again Pidge!" He seemed more cheery than the rest of them, his cocky grin lighting up the dash's of the rest of the team, their's looking more tired and dejected by the minute.

His face darkened slightly as he scanned the statistics infront of him, voice dropping as he looked up at Shiro, "My lions running on empty though guys."

All the paladins agreed, admitting how much the fight had taken out of them.

"We need to hail Allura." Pidge started, "There's no way we're making it back to the castle like this."

"Sending a message will lower our power even more." Hunk interfered, not wanting to accept they might have to make an impromptu stop at whatever planet they were lucky enough to find. "Maybe if we just-" he trailed off, realising how low their options were.

Lance assured his friend, "Hunk, buddy, we're kinda' running low on options here." The blue paladin tilted his head to the side slightly and sent Hunk a sympathetic smile. Hunk's shoulders slumped as he nodded, "Fine. But if we all get eaten by giant monsters I'm fine with literally anyone taking the blame but me."

Pidge sent the team a small grin, "Lets get looking then!"

"No need" Keith stated, "Hunk, 2 o'clock."

"Oh!" Hunk acknowledged, "Its an ice planet, roughly 95% water." He looked over at the red paladin, "Thanks Keith."

Keith didn't respond verbally, instead opting to send a small, private smile towards the yellow paladin.

Shiro nodded curtly, "Lets go!" They didn't really have any other options.

/. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. 

 

Overall the meeting had been a success, with all members of the coalition being willing to support Voltron and its paladins in the war against Zarkon.

Said paladins had not yet arrived by the balmera and the princess was growing impatient, they were due back over 3 Vargas ago to help tide over the various representatives of each planet. 

"Coran?"

"Yes princess?" came a cheery voice from the ginger haired altean in front of her.

"Have the paladins sent a message as to why they're late?" She inquired. To be perfectly honest she was disappointed in Voltron. Whenever something like this happened she couldn't help but automatically associate it with laziness and selfishness on the paladins behalf. Maybe it was because Voltron was her fathers legacy, maybe because she wanted nothing more than to bring zarkon down. Or the most probable reasoning would be a mixture of the two. For whatever reason she was angered by the lack of appearance by the team.

"No princess," he said searching through the various files projected onto a holographic screen. "Nothing live anyway- wait a minute!"

There was an awkward silence before Allura prompted her advisor with a nod,

"There is a message from the joined comms, I'll put it on for you Allura."

Allura stood still as she saw Shiros face pop up onscreen, Soon after this all 4 other paladins portraits were projected onto the holo-screen. Surrounded by the other members of Voltron, Shiro began to speak.

"We were hit by a blast while on the mission, it left us low on energy and we're landing on a planet to wait for you." The visual on all their faces kept fading in and out and Shiro's voice was laced over with static, "We won't be able to get back in contact with you as this is using the last of our lions energy." He frowned before carrying on, "The coordinates will be sent alongside this message." 

Allura frowned for a moment before reacting, "Well... Coran, lets go now." She stated.

"The teladuv isn't operational princess. The fastest way to go would be to fly there manually."

She frowned, "how long will that take Coran?"

"At least 3 Vargas if we leave now." He said twirling his moustache.

Her lips drew together in a set grim with determination, "Lets go then."

/. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /.

 

"The atmosphere is similar to earths," Pidge said, "we don't need our visors down."

The team had joined together outside of the black lion once they'd realised none of the lions had the energy to regulate their temperature or close their jaws, leaving the paladins fully exposed to the elements.

Hunk frowned before speaking, "Wouldn't it be safer to put the breathing masks on anyway though?"

"We don't want to waste oxygen we might need later on Hunk" Shiro clarified.

Hunk did not seem comforted by this at all, "I just think that-"

Lance patted Hunk's shoulder, "Chill man."

Keith looked back at the pair, "Considering the temperature of this place is averaging at about -10degrees Celsius I'd say 'chilling out' will be pretty easy."

"Pidge gasped up at Keith, "you made a pun!" She stood, slack jawed as he began walking towards Shiro, "He made a pun! Lance! Hunk! Keith made a pun!" She beamed whilst making her way towards the blue and yellow paladins. Hunk's jaw was wide open and Lance had never looked prouder, "Wait 'a go mullet!"

They all quietened down as the black paladin turned to look at them, "There's a group of caves my scanners picked up on along that cliff-face, I think its our best option while we're waiting for the castle."

Seeing Pidge's frown, Shiro elaborated, "The caves are easily accessible and big enough to hide us from the wind, our suits can barely manage this temperature on their normal thermal regulators. We can't waste any energy on the more advanced suit warmers unless we need to-"

Lance broke in, "Basically we only use the extra warm suits if we get extra cold and the wind will eventually get us extra chilly so we wanna NOT stay in the wind!" 

Shiro shook his head in bafflement before nodding at the blue paladin.

"Lets look for this cave!" Lance hollered, all the others voicing their agreement.

Keith had broken off from the group and kept moving infront of everyone else, his bayard was in a defensive position and he looked tense as he periodically scanned the area for any surprises whilst walking.

Lance and Hunk had been nearly constantly keeping up a spout of random conversation that both the black and green paladins had been both amused and concerned by, the latter opinion mostly originating from Shiro.

Shiro's calm smile was completely eradicated when he looked over to check on Keith- Keith who's hands were obviously shaking and whose arms had dropped to his sides. Body completely tensed up the red paladin slowly rotated on his heels until he was facing the others.

They all stopped when they saw how wide his eyes were, he was pale and had locked eyes with Shiro, his face portrayed an unnerving look of desperation.

"Keith?" Lance was the first to break the silence before beginning to walk toward Keith, he stopped as his feet began to loose traction on the ice covered ground- wait, ice? "Quiznak" He breathed before stepping back, away from the frozen over lake.

"What? What is it Lance?" Shiro questioned, not breaking eye contact with Keith, whose breathing had become erratic and uncontrolled.

"Its ice." Lance said, jumping as they all heard a muffled crack from Keith's direction, "and it's breaking."

Hunk let out a muffled gasp as they all heard a loud groan followed by an almighty crack before Keith's legs slipped out of the others sight. He'd managed to catch himself before being fully submerged but was steadily loosing grip as his fingers numbed on the spiderwebbed ice.

Lance began to slowly edge his way towards Keith, Hunk held Shiro back as the older man tried to follow Lance onto the ice, "I don't think it'll hold you both."

Lance was about halfway towards Keith when the red paladin let out a sharp cry, everyone looked from Lance towards where Keith had been seconds prior, he'd fallen bellow their vision and become completely submerged.

Shiro's shout was involuntary and caused by pure fear and alarm. "Keith!"

Lance remained silent, activating his advanced warmer and lowering his visor as he sped up his path toward the gaping hole Keith had fallen into, once he was close enough he dived into the murky depths of the lake.

Shiro was stood unmoving and tense next to the green and yellow paladins, he stared, unblinkingly at the hole both Lance and Keith had been swallowed by.

"Keith had his visor down right?" Hunks voice trembled slightly, showing that he knew the answer to his question. Seeing that Shiro wasn't going to answer Pidge shook her head at the yellow paladin and gripped his hand tightly as they waited for the rest of their team to rise out of the water.

/. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /.

Lance turned on his helmet light as he swam deeper and deeper through the murky water. He only felt a slight chill as he swam, wether this was due to adrenaline or advanced altean technology he didn't know. He didn't care.

He froze for a minute, staring down at the red armour he'd glimpsed. Dark hair danced around Keith's face, eyes closed and skin three shades paler than usual. It shocked Lance back into action and he swam toward the red paladin.

He looped his arms under Keith's and activated his jet pack, praying that both that and his suit warmer would last until he reached the surface.

He sighed in relief as he saw the gap in the ice they'd fallen through, pushing Keith's deadweight out of the hole he followed his teammate onto the surface. He barely paused for breath as he slowly dragged Keith toward the others.

As soon as they reached the bank all of them assessed Keith's condition, he wasn't breathing. Shiro started chest compressions as soon as he realised while the others stood, shocked at everything that had just happened.

"Respirators" Lance breathed, before repeating himself with more confidence, "respirators. Pidge built in respirators in the helmets." 

Pidge nodded, already activating Keith's helmet manually from her own suit, his visor closed at the suit started pumping air into his lungs. Shiro didn't look up as he kept at the chest compressions, there was an almost maniacal glint in his eyes as he tried desperately out resuscitate his brother.

The visor opened as the helmet registered Keith beginning to breath on his own, the red paladin convulsed, throwing up water onto the snow.

Keith groaned as his eyes flickered slightly, he was breathing properly on his own now and Shiro leant back, a look of deep concern replacing the crazed look from before.

Keith's lips were blue, as was the area beneath his cheekbones and eyes. He was shivering vigorously as he clutched at Shiros wrist.

"We need to get to a cave." Shiro said, picking up Keith bridal style.

The others followed as their leader led the way.

As they jogged, Shiro became aware of Keith's struggling within the older boy's grip. Keith was tossing and turning, his pupils were dilated in fear as he tried to escape Shiros arms. The red paladins breathing hitched slightly as he began to cry, small whimpers morphing into strangled sobbing.

"N-no-" Keith looked terrified and Shiros fear only grew when he heard how slurred the younger boys speech was.

He sped into a sprint as he saw the cave opening in the distance, "Hang on Keith. We're nearly there."

/. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /.

Once they found a cave Shiro propped Keith up against one of the walls, he noted how pale Keith was getting and how shallow his breathing had become. He swore as he felt Keith's pulse, barely noticeable and holding an painfully obvious truth; if they didn't do something, Keith was going to die.

The others stood by the entrance of the cave, each one of them holding a completely shell shocked look that would have been comical in any other situation.

Lance walked toward the red and black paladins and looked down at Keith. Keith- who'd stopped shivering and was steadily growing colder. Shiro had taken off both his and Keith's armour and sat down, back to the wall he'd held the smaller boy against his chest desperately trying to warm Keith's chest.

Keith was mumbling, barely coherent with his eyes glazed over with fever. He closed his eyes, only to force them open again once Lance started tapping on his cheek. "C'mon bud, just a little longer. You cant fall asleep yet" Shiros eyes were panicked behind his calm mask, Lance caught his gaze and they shared a deeply concerned look between them.

"Pidge! Hunk! Work on getting the comms working, we need immediate extraction."

"On it Shiro!"

Keith's eyes began to close once again, "No, keith stay with me. Please" Shiro begged. Keith's head lolled onto Shiro's shoulder as the rest of his body sagged against the black paladins chest.

"C'mon mullet." Lance pleaded. Keith stirred slightly before groaning and settling again.

Shiro lent the smaller boy against his galran arm and began to shake Keith's shoulder, coaxing him to open his eyes, "...kashi?"

"Yeah Keith its me, can you stay awake for us bud?"

"M'tired..." His voice was slurred and quiet, hardly audible to Lance and Shiro, making them both frown at how unaware he seemed to be toward the whole situation.

Allura's voice echoed around the small cave, "paladins come in! Do you read?"

"We're here Allura." Pidge practically yelled, "Track our suits, we need immediate extraction and a pod."

"We're on our way Pidge.'' 

The line went dead.

Keith was trembling in fear, eyes blown wide and shimmering with unshed tears, "d-dad? Ngggg- no." He cried out in alarm and tears began to fall down his cheeks, "no! No, no, no, no, don't- dont please!" 

Lance tapped Keiths shoulder, "hey... hey its okay. Its not real Keith it's fine, you're fine."

Lance's comforting had done nothing to calm Keith and Shiro looked as if he was about to intervene when Keith started jolting and struggling, "Sh'r-" Shiro froze, eyes wide and afraid. "No- n-no! D-don't- don't go- no, please-" He stammered, he was sobbing whilst tears streamed across his face, "m'sorry- pl-please, please shiro- I-I'm sorry!"

Everyone but Keith and Shiro looked outside the cave as the castle landed. Shiro too shocked, staring down at his brother and Keith terrified of something only he could see.

Lance was shaking his shoulder, "-ro, Shiro! C'mon man, now is not a great time to be freezing up.

Shiro stood with Keith in his arms as the team made their way to the healing room.

 

/. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /.

The team stood outside a healing pod. Coran had told them it would open any minute however there was one issue, Coran had told the paladins that the pods could only regulate temperature to consequently bring Keith's back up, it was not able to stop any lingering side affects from the hypothermia Keith had suffered from. 

It was likely Keith was going to be pretty sick after the events on the ice planet and Shiro knew Keith was going to hate any and all things that could possibly lead to him having to ask for help, especially if the help was because of a virus.

All the paladins looked up as the pod let out a low hiss, Shiro stood forward as the red paladin was released from cryosleep.

As Keith staggered forward he collided with something, that something being Shiro. Keith groaned slightly before burying his head into Shiros shoulder, his skull feeling like it was repeatedly being smashed onto a table.

Shiro dimly registered that in his normal state Keith would never be this touchy-feely infront of the group, but dismissed the thought in favour of holding his brother in a loose hug until the smaller boy pulled back.

Shiro supported Keith as the red paladin looked across the rest of the team, "H-hey guys-" he started.

"Mullet-" started Lance, "I'm so gonna beat your ass in training for that stunt!" Keith smiled sheepishly before noticing the teary shine in Lance's eyes, "Lance?"

Lance practically dove into Keith, holding him tightly, "I'm glad your okay."

"Man, you looked bad Keith." Hunk said shuddering, "did I not say something like this would happen."

"You said monster Hunk." Pidge corrected, "This was an ice skating attempt gone wrong." She said smirking, Her smile dissolved as she and Hunk joined in the hug between Keith and Lance. Shiro, Allura and Coran wrapped their arms around their team and smiled as they all basked in relief.

After a while of all the paladins and alteans being wrapped together like a very confusing ball of wool they pulled apart and left Keith and Shiro alone in the room.

"I feel like shit."

"I'm not surprised to be perfectly honest Keith, you gave us a real scare." Shiro smiled, recalling the fear he'd been unable to escape prior to their rescue "but your in the clear now." He held the younger boy to his chest and let himself relax, albeit only slightly

"Keith?" Shiro questioned.

"Yeah Shiro?" Keith still sounded a bit out of it and dazed by his stay in the cryopod along with his experience with hypothermia.

"What do you remember from after you fell under the ice?" Shiros voice was filled with trepidation and caution, he sat patiently whilst Keith thought of an answer.

Keith's brow furrowed slightly in thought "I don't- I mean-" His fists clenched in irritation at himself, "It's all fuzzy... I guess, I mean I know I must've been hallucinating or something-"

"What did you see Keith?"

Keith looked up at Shiro, most of his eyes veiled with black hair. When he spoke it was barely a whisper, "I saw dad. I saw him burn, I-I felt it Shiro, I felt like I was burning and I was terrified and I just thought that... that he was alone, that he went back in that building to save someone. He gave his life for a chance, and he got the rough end of the deal 'cause neither of them got out of that fire. They burnt. He burnt Shiro! A-and I just-" tears were flowing freely down his face now and Shiro didn't wait before bringing him into a hug.

"I'm sorry Keith, I didn't mean to push. I-it's just that- well it's just that- you said my name Keith, along with some other stuff..."

Keith didn't hesitate, "You were in the fire."

"W-what?"

"You left, you saw me and dad burning and you left." Keith saw Shiros downcast face and rushed to fix it, "It wasn't you though, and- and I know it wasn't you Shiro."

Shiro sent a watery smile towards Keith and the red paladin volunteered one of his own.

The black paladin took note of how exhausted Keith looked and began to lead the red paladin to his room.

/. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /. /.

Keith gagged into the toilet bowl again, he felt like he'd been dry heaving for hours and the action had left his throat sore and his stomach ached from the constant seizing.

He was sick out of his mind. Every move he made sending a feeling of nausea through his body and the constant awareness of every ache and pain had left him absolutely exhausted.

He didn't look up as someone came into the bathroom behind him, only looking over his shoulder once the person had crouched behind him. Lance. 

The blue paladin gave Keith a sympathetic smile before guiding him over to his bed, 

"I can walk!" Keith grumbled indignantly.

"I know, I know mullet." Lance replayed, sitting Keith down on the bed.

Lance smiled as he sat down next to Keith, "y'know, this reminds me of home." He looked forward dreamily, "I used to help my younger siblings allot if they got sick or upset. We all looked after each other so if I got sick I had someone else in the family help me out."

Keith mentally pondered the pros and cons of talking to Lance, "I never really had anyone who cared about that sort of thing before Shiro." Keith mumbled. Lance stayed quiet, realising how rare it was for Keith to open up like this. "After my mom left my dad was..." he bit his lip, thinking of something, "distant? Yeah distant. He didn't really acknowledge me, I think I reminded him of her. I-I'm sorry, I'm rambling on..."

Lance turned so he was completely facing Keith, "Hey, hey, none of that." He started with a smile, "the whole team cares about you. Don't forget that okay? And besides, I'm constantly talking so this is a welcome change."

Keith hummed in acknowledgment, "I dunno, I like your stories about earth. I've never seen anywhere outside the garrison and desert. Cuba is a very welcome change."

Lance laughed before becoming somber, "look, Keith. When I saw you in the water, I- I thought you were dead, really dead. And I guess you were huh?"

Lance sighed at Keith's perplexed look. "You were dead Keith, technically I guess anyway. You weren't breathing. Your heart stopped."

Lance wiped at his wet eyes absentmindedly, "I really thought I was too late, that you were gone for good. I guess we've had two bonding moments now huh?"

Keith looked up at Lance through teary eyes, "So you do remember?" He whispered.

"I guess I do..." Lance lowered Keith into his pillow as the smaller boy yawned. "Try to get some sleep Keith."

"Thank you for listening Lance," Keith let out another yawn part way through his sentence and was dozing off before Lance had a chance to respond. Lance quickly turned to leave the room and began to tiptoe toward the door.

He stopped as he felt something grab the cuff of his jacket, "stay? Please..." mumbled Keith. Lance didn't answer, instead choosing to just do as Keith asked and lay on-top of the blanket. 

He quickly fell asleep next to the red paladin.

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh Keith angst, gotta love hurting my favourite paladin.


End file.
